"She did what!?" Jaina shouted.
She felt her fist tighten, her fingers longing to wrap around a hunk of space emerald that was no longer there. She missed the warmth of her ring, the constant reassurance that it provided, even the strange security of magical space spandex.
Without her ring to provide her Lantern uniform, Jaina opted for a style similar to uncle Luke's. Black jacket, shirt, pants, and boots, with a belt to hold her lightsaber at her side. Along with a corellian blaster set to stun, just in case. She blamed her father for the habit.
Nightwing held up his hands, gesturing for Jaina to calm down as she felt Connor grip her shoulder in warning.
"Robin assured me that all the cameras were taken out, so they don't have any evidence, but Jessica did lose control while they were fighting Black Beetle and took out about half of Lexcorp farms."
Though Lex Luthor did deserve that slight setback for allying himself with a bug-like alien race intent on taking over and enslaving the world. Jessica knew better. Jaina taught her better, she knew she had.
She struggled to calm herself, swallowing the yell before it forced itself out of her mouth.
"I take it you're headed there now?" She folded her arms tightly, nodding to the bioship the three had been walking towards.
"Yeah, Robin said they found an ally we need to meet." Nightwing all but skipped up the ramp, sliding into the captain's seat.
"What's up with M'gann? Where's she?" It was an open question, but Jaina directed it more so towards Superboy, who kept up his sabacc face and stared out the window.
"She's been really tired lately," He said in a tone that didn't sound too convincing, "She said she'd be available if we really needed her, but I think we should let her rest."
Jaina huffed. No one gave her a straight answer about anything these days. Though she had faced him herself, Jaina knew that something was missing in the story of Kaldur and his betrayal.
"Tula was one of Kaldur's friends, right?" She asked suddenly, watching the lights of cities pass by in the dark abyss below.
She felt Nightwing and Connor watching her curiously. "Yeah, from Atlantis."
"Anyone else besides her and La'gaan?"
"Just one; her boyfriend, Garth."
"Hmm," She hummed to herself thoughtfully.
Nightwing took a gander at what she was thinking. "Kal had a crush on Tula when they were younger. He took it a bit hard after she and Garth started dating.
He set the bioship on autopilot and held his hands in his lap, rubbing them together.
"That was before Raquel, before he met you. When I saw the two of you together, I was really happy for him."
"After you left, he even told me that you made him forget about her for a while." Connor said.
"Okay, I get the picture, but you're talking about her as if she's nothing but a jerk that broke Kaldur's heart!"
"Sorry," Connor and Nightwing mumbled sheepishly.
Jaina felt her cheeks flush red-hot in the cool cabin. She didn't realize that maybe, after all this time, she still might have feelings for Kaldur. And Jag. And Zekk.
She really needed to make her mind up.
"You're right, she was more than that." Nightwing agreed. "She was an incredibly talented Atlantean sorceress. Better than Kaldur, even. And an even better scholar. She corrected me on my mythos more times than I'd like to admit."
"We were fighting a monster out of Mesopotamian mythology, called Tiamat." Connor started.
"The Light woke him up to try and destroy the world, you know, the usual, but Tula read up on him, and found out that Tiamat had been defeated once before, by a demigod named Marduk, who controlled lightning and water.
"What she didn't tell us, at least until it was too late, was that Marduk had to give his life to stop Tiamat. So that's what she did."
"And this happened right after Kaldur found out that Aquaman and his parents had been lying to him his whole life, and that his father was really Black Manta, and not Calvin Durham, as we all believed." Nightwing added.
Jaina felt her heart break a little. If she lost Zekk right after finding out that her father was really someone like Brakiss or Emperor Palpatine instead of Han Solo, Rebel Hero and a former General of the New Republic, especially on top of everything that already happened during the Yuuzhan Vong and Galactic Civil War, she might just be pulled down the dark side too.
Was that how Jacen felt?
He had to protect Tenel Ka. He had to protect Allana. He didn't want another Empire. They'd just lost Anakin. They'd lost Raynar and Lowie. He'd been tortured under the Vong. Lumiya was twisting his mind.
Jaina held her head in her hands, thinking back to the last time she had felt the presence of her beloved twin.
Could she have done more? Could she have made her brother see truth and come back to the light side? Uncle Luke had done it before, at least, he almost had.
"Anakin? I need your help." She whispered. She tried to meditate, tried to reach out into the open expanse of the force, but the bioship jolted to a stop.
"Come on, we're here." Nightwing announced.
The three leaped down outside a large red barn amidst a wide open expanse of wheat fields.
"This doesn't look like Lexcorp farms." Jaina chuckled.
"We're meeting them here." Nightwing marched past her, towards the barn.
A dirt road led past the barn, up to a mailbox marked with the name "KENT".
Her head turned on Connor so fast she nearly got whiplash. "Is this where Superman lives?" She asked.
Nightwing chuckled for him. "Not quite, Jay."
A plump older man stood in the open door of the illuminated barn, waving to the three. Connor's chiseled face cracked a smaile, waving in return, as his pace picked up.
"The Kents adopted Superman when he crashed to Earth, and since Superman calls Connor a brother, Connor's pretty much their son too." Nightwing explained.
She could feel the jealousy radiating off of Richard, matching her own, as Connor hugged his surrogate father.
"Right this way," Mr. Kent ushered the heroes inside, "The young'uns just got here!"
"Ay, Sword! Good to see you in action!" Impulse said, waving his apple in greeting. Bart dubbed her "The Sword" for now, since they couldn't really associate with Green Lanterns so long as the Reach was invited to stay on Earth. No one had any other ideas for her name, so she was stuck with it.
Jaina ran right past him, wrapping her arms around Jessica in a tight hug. "Are you okay? What happened? What made you lose control?" She demanded. Jessica's shoulders stiffened beneath her touch, and she immediately stepped back.
That was when she noticed the beetle in the room.
He lightsaber flew from the magnetic clip on her belt to her hands, igniting in a shower of violet sparks.
"How many of you are there?" She aimed her blade for the beetle's throat, not really patient enough to be waiting for an answer. This party trick of the Reach's was getting old.
"Waoh, woah, woah! GL, he's good, he's good! He helped us take down Black Beetle!" Blue squeaked, leaping in front of the creature in Reach armor.
The blade was deactivated, but Jaina firmly gripped the hilt in her hand, and it wasn't going back in her belt anytime soon. The new beetle had his hands raised in surrender in case anyone else doubted his innoccencea strangely shaped body compared to Jaime's and Black Beetle's, and his motifs were green, rather than blue or gray.
"Thanks for letting us use your barn, Mr. Kent." Nightwing said to Superboy's father. Jaina backed up a step to talk with the adults. "We can't risk bringing him back to our base. Lost too many of those already."
Mr. Kent chuckled, patting Connor's shoulder. "Well, he's not the oddest thing we've had in this barn. And I'll take any excuse to see one of my boys." Connor grinned, and Jaina had to admit, she was happy for him. Especially when Mrs. Kent came out with cups of homemade apple juice for everyone.
"I am called B'arzz O'oom. And obviously, I am from Mars." The Green Beetle said as attention was returned to him.
"We guessed as much," Nightwing nodded.
"But it's the beetle part that's got us confused," Robin gestured to the armor that O'oom was wearing.
Green Beetle looked to Blue. "I imagine my story is not dissimlar to yours."
"Great, storytime." Jaina sighed, wishing her cup had something a bit stronger in it. She sank into a seat on the hay bale next to Jessica, wondering why her apprentice was doing her best to ignore her.
"Hey Jess?" She whispered. Everyone else was intently paying attention to whatever sob story Green Beetle had. "Can I talk to you outside?"
Nodding obediently, Jessica led Jaina outside the barn. The moon was full and bright, with the tiny diamond stars adding to it. Jaina only barely missed being so close to them.
"What's up?" Jaina asked, tearing her eyes from the sky. "You lost control on the mission. What went wrong? What can we do to keep it from happening again?"
Jessica shook her head. Her hands slammed down overr her ears as the ring started to hiss, the veins attaching the ring to her hands throbbing painfully.
"I don't know, I don't know," She said in a tight voice. "It- it's been getting w-worse."
"Since when? We were doing really good! You were doing great! You've been amazing at keeping a lid on Volthoom!"
"No I'm not!" Jessica insisted. "I was already going downhill when Volthoom found me, and ever since then it's been snowballing. I can't keep doing this, Jaina!"
"Yes you can, we can help you!" Jaina implored stubbornly. "You're getting better, I promise-"
"It's not getting better!" Jessica screamed. "It'll never get better! It goes away for an hour or two and it comes back even stronger. And don't tell me it's just in my head, it is my head!"
Jessica held up her ring hand, shoving the fat "X" and the glowing veins in Jaina's face.
"It's always been with me, and it'll always be with me, no matter what I do. And this ring proves it!"
Jaina's throat ran dry as she found that there was no Solo quip or Organa brilliantly-worded answer to this. All she could do was stand there, watching as Jessica stumbled back into the barn.